Robert is Back!

Robert is home! At 7:00am on Tuesday morning we were awoken to chants of “Uncle Boberti!” as Robert’s taxi dropped him at home, fresh off 2 full days of traveling from Houston to Entebbe, by way of Qatar. The kids were still a little sleepy so the greetings weren’t as energetic as I’d been anticipating, but everyone was smiling ear to ear. Knowing how attached we’ve become to these kids in just 3 months, I can’t imagine what it’s like for Robert to come home and see all his kids again.

One of the things Robert worked on in the states was updating the organization’s website (www.malayakahouse.com). A long-time volunteer actually did the new site, but Robert spent a lot of time writing up the pages and information. Please check it out to learn more about the kids and the businesses. For each of the kids Robert wrote a story of where they came from and what they’re like now, plus each story is linked to an album of photos. He still has 10 more bios to write, but the ones he’s done so far are incredible. There’s also information about each of the businesses, the role of the aunties, and a link to his new blog. With the blog he started from the very beginning and eventually, when he’s given a back story and current story of every child, he’s hoping that he can turn it into a book.

On another note - only 2 weeks until Conor flies to Entebbe, and just 4 days before he comes we have a service trip from Champlain College arriving! May will be exciting, but also bitter sweet because Evan and I are heading home at the end of the month. Evan's accepted a position with Teach for America in the Mississippi Delta region so we're coming home a few weeks early. I'm thrilled to see my family and friends so soon, but it will be incredibly hard to leave here. But, I still have a month so we'll save the tears for now. If anyone would like to donate items to the Malayaka House, I would love for Conor to bring some puzzles, building blocks, DVD's, books, etc over here, so any of these things that you're looking to get rid of would be really helpful for us!

And lastly, it's been a while since I put up pictures do there's a bunch below. But check out the website for even more info and pictures!

This is Amina – she’s 3 years old and, as you can see, is absolutely adorable. She’s funny, playful, and really sweet. Amina spends her days running around the house with Elijah, Mercy, and Diego while all the others are at school. She and Elijah are the best of friends and they’re virtually inseparable. Unfortunately Amina is HIV positive, but she is receiving the best care around. They say she gets sick a fair amount, but we’ve only had to take her to the doctor once in the last 3 months. Treatment and ARV’s are free in Uganda, and she’s been on medication since she was a few months old. 

This is Jacinta on the left– she’s 19 years old and manages both the pizza business and the cheese business here. She came to Malayaka House about 18 months ago, with an 8 month old baby and another on the way. When Jacinta was just 7 years old, she left her family out of fear that she would be kidnapped by Joseph Kony’s army. A few years later, after living on the streets, a woman found Jacinta and offered her a job doing some housework for a family in Kampala. She was still young, but this would provide her with a safe place to live. But, by the time this woman brought Jacinta to Kampala, the position had already been filled. So, after some more time looking for refuge, Jacinta ended up at Mercy Home, an orphanage that originally had good intentions but was beginning to fall to pieces. After a few years at Mercy Home, where the kids were treated poorly and internal abuse was around every corner, Jacinta fled. A young man who had also run away from Mercy Home invited Jacinta to live with him and he promised to find work for her. She was 16 at the time and felt she had no better option, so she moved in with him. At first he continued promising to find her a job, but she quickly became a servant to him. He made her clean the house, do the dishes, and prepare dinner when he got home from work. Eventually she got pregnant and gave birth to her daughter, who she named Mercy. When she was pregnant for the second time, a friend came to let her know that Robert had visited Mercy Home and was looking for her. Robert had met Jacinta when she was 15 and even then he was impressed with her determination and work ethic. Back then he had been trying to help Mercy Home improve, but now he knew that was hopeless and he wanted to take Jacinta and her baby to Malayaka House. Jacinta immediately left the young man she had been living with and moved to Malayaka House. Now she’s an incredible role model to all the kids here, especially the 10 other girls that also moved here from Mercy Home last year. She’s a quick learner, she’s motivated, and she’s one of the funniest people at the house. She works hard to manage these businesses, hone her skills, and take care of her beautiful babies, Mercy and Diego.

Namatov (or Tov or Tovu) is to the right of Jacinta in the picture above– she’s 19 years old and manages the office at the Malayaka House. She oversees all 3 business and has various roles within each; she does all of the accounting; she keeps all Malayaka House paperwork organized; she helps with homework every day; she manages the store room; and she finds time to have fun. She enjoys secretarial work, and she’s incredible at it. She’s also bubbly, enthusiastic, hardworking, and motivated. The children call her Teacher Tov and they have the utmost respect for her. What she says goes, always. She takes good care of all the children here, and ever since she was 10 years old she’s been the caretaker for Naiga and their younger brother Hakim.

This is Naiga – she’s 17 years old and manages the craft business. She spends her days making beads out of recycled paper, then designing necklaces, earrings, and bags, as well as table decorations for the pizza business. Naiga is kind of shy and hard to read at times, but she’s an incredible listener and always takes our advice about business matters. She effortlessly motivates the other girls and the aunties to help her business, and you can often find at least 10 people sitting and rolling beads with her during the school holiday. Naiga’s best friend is her older sister Namatov, and the 2 of them are perfect compliments. Namatov wears her emotions on her sleeve, while Naiga is always consistent.

This is Danny – he just turned 8 last week and he’s in second grade. When Danny was 2 years old he was abandoned in a forest and remained there alone for 2 days before someone found him. According to Robert, he was the most traumatized of the 36 children that he’s taken in. It took a full year for him to feel comfortable and allow others in, but if you met Danny now you’d never know it. He’s very social, very smart, and very thoughtful. He’s also the best reader out of our 10 first and second graders.

This is Malayaka – she’s 6 years old and in P1. Her other name is Mary but she goes by Malayaka at home, despite the fact that many of the other kids were also given the name Malayaka. We recently learned that she actually thinks her full name is Mary Malayaka House. She probably took the longest to warm up to Evan and I, but now we really love her. She’s funny and wild and usually polite. She seems to get along with everyone, and her teacher says she’s the best behaved in school. But she definitely knows how to be a troublemaker too, and sometimes she likes to steal keys, pencils, books, etc from the guest house. When Malayaka’s old enough to really understand what’s happened in her life, I hope that she doesn’t focus on the terrible events that made her such a vulnerable baby, but rather on the fact that because of her, 35 other children were given a second chance and a better life.

This is Justine – she’s probably about 13 years old and she’s in P4. She does very well in school, and she’s also a talented rugby player. Justine is sweet, funny, and always happy. She loves to do any worksheets, coloring pages, word searches, or math problems that we give her, and she likes to just hang out in the guest house some nights. As is true with all of the older girls, Justine likes to help Naiga with her jewelry making when she has extra time on the weekends or during school holidays.

This is Hakim – he’s 14 years old and in his first year of high school. Naiga and Namatov are his older sisters, and they’ve all been living at Malayaka House for about 3 years. Hakim wants to be a veterinarian when he grows up and he works hard taking care of his animals here. Everyday a couple of his friends come over and they care for Hakim’s pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits, and pigeons. Hakim’s favorite things right now are rollerblading, skateboarding, playing computer games, and watching action movies.

This is Juliet – she’s about 13 years old and she’s in P5. Julie loves rugby more than anything, and she’s extremely competitive. You can often find her climbing dangerous high in the trees around the compound. Her and Sharon climb up to cut down jackfruits that they share with all the kids. Juliet does well enough in school without much effort, so Evan’s been trying to motivate her a little more because she has so much potential in the classroom. 

This is Mercy – she’s 2 years old, the daughter of Jacinta, and Diego’s older sister. She loves to be held, but she’s also very independent. Despite the fact that she’s a relatively new talker, especially in English, I can tell that Mercy’s a really funny kid. She’s inherited her mother’s good sense of humor. Mercy likes to color, play with Elijah & Amina, and listen to me read the book ‘8 Silly Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.’

This is Viola – she’s about 17 years old and she’s in her second year of secondary school. She’s dressed up in the picture because she was going to a friend’s wedding. Viola came to the house right after Malayaka was born and Bobo was taken in, so she’s like a mother to them and many of the children. She is funny, articulate, energetic, and she is wise beyond her years. Viola dreams of being a pilot when she grows up, and she always has that goal in mind. She’s also a trained masseuse and just gave me an excellent massage today.